“I was the Punching Bag for Keyboard Warriors”: Examining Stakeholder Social Undermining Tactics and Their Effects on Occupational Identity

Abstract

School districts across the U.S. have experienced heightened politicization from contentious issues such as COVID-19 policies, curriculum choices, library books, and programming related to racial and sexual identities. In many states, parents and activists engaged in forms of social undermining that impacted the well-being of school employees, including communication officers. This study aims to understand how social undermining was carried out in some school districts and impacts of this behavior on communication officers’ occupational identities. We conducted interviews with 16 communication officers in Texas, one of the most politicized states, about their experiences of parent activism. Using Communication Identity Theory as a framework for our analysis, we illuminate participants’ perceptions of parents’ social undermining tactics and connect them to several occupational identity gaps. Timing of this research is important considering public service occupations are facing unprecedented attacks via rhetoric and actions from organizations like the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Keywords

social undermining identity gaps communication theory of identity occupational identity school districts

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